CIA FOIA Request Denied before Hillary’s Benghazi Testimony

22 January 201310 Comments

With all eyes on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s long awaited and highly anticipated testimony today on the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi where Ambassador Christopher Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith, former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, were murdered, the stonewall continues, and more chilling signs of a cover-up emerge—this time from Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIA) to the CIA.

As the New York Times reported, Woods and Doherty worked under contract with the CIA.

Recall how officials briefed on intelligence told the Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. effort in Benghazi was at its heart a CIA operation,” and the State Department presence in Benghazi “provided diplomatic cover” to conceal weapon transfers from Libya to Syria.

In addition, as Aaron Klein of kleinonline.com reported, “The U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, actually served as a meeting place to coordinate aid for the rebel-led insurgencies in the Middle East, according to Middle Eastern security officials … Among the tasks performed inside the building was collaborating with Arab countries on the recruitment of fighters – including jihadists – to target Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.” The so-called Benghazi mission or consulate as the Obama-Clinton regime described it to be was in reality a CIA outpost.

Now, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) declined my CIA FOIA request seeking information in regards to Ambassador Christopher Stevens and Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin and “any and all members of the Turkish government …” Akin was the last known person to have met with Ambassador Stevens. Their meeting concluded about one hour before the deadly attack on September 11 began at approximately 9:35 p.m. local time.

As CIA Information and Privacy Coordinator Michele Meeks wrote: “With respect to Item 1, in accordance with section 3.6(a) of Executive Order 13526, the CIA can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of records responsive to your request. The fact of the existence or nonexistence of requested records is currently and properly classified and is intelligence sources and methods information that is protected from disclosure by section 6 of the CIA Act of 1949, as amended, and section 102A(i)(1) of the National Security Act of 1947, as amended. Therefore, your request is denied pursuant to FOIA exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3).

This type of denial is called the Glomar Response. As Unredacted explains the history behind the name: “The Glomar Explorer … was built by the CIA with help from Howard Hughes for the six year (1968-1974) Project Azorian[1]. Project Azorian was a secret, ambitious endeavor to salvage and examine a Soviet Golf-II class submarine –and its three one-megaton nuclear missiles– which had sunk to the bottom of the ocean floor 1,560 miles northwest of Hawaii.”

When journalist Ann Phillippi filed a FOIA for documentation on the Glomar Explorer “the CIA, questionably citing FOIA law, claimed it could “neither confirm nor deny” that documents about either the ship or the censorship existed; a judge agreed. The term “Glomar response” stuck. And so did the ability for the CIA (and the entire US government) to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of documents in response to FOIA requesters.”

Last November former CIA Director David Petraeus (unlike President Bill Clinton) suddenly resigned after news of his tawdry affair with biographer Paula Broadwell broke worldwide. Broadwell had reportedly been sending threatening type emails to a Florida socialite Jill Kelley.

“The Board found that Ambassador Stevens made the decision to travel to Benghazi independently of Washington, per standard practice. Timing for his trip was driven in part by commitments in Tripoli, as well as a staffing gap between principal officers in Benghazi. Plans for the Ambassador’s trip provided for minimal close protection security support and were not shared thoroughly with the Embassy’s country team, who were not fully aware of planned movements off compound. The Ambassador did not see a direct threat of an attack of this nature and scale on the U.S. Mission in the overall negative trendline of security incidents from spring to summer 2012. His status as the leading U.S. government advocate on Libya policy, and his expertise on Benghazi in particular, caused Washington to give unusual deference to his judgments [emphasis mine].”

What you will witness when Hillary testifies will be a whitewash with Hillary, thanks to Senator John Kerry, already recast as the hero for “swiftly” implementing the ARB’s recommendations. To see how the Benghazi cover-up will play out read Benghazi Cover-up 101 for Dummies. To see how Hillary dodged indictments during the Clinton era, click here.

I AM troubled by the picture of Embassador Stevens being dragged in the streets with his purple and black lips,it absolutely breaks my heart to tears. How the administration is treating this is absolutely criminal. This administration has the most hated president of all time. His criminal ways and doings are appaling and I cannot figure out how he gets away with it. Is DC asleep?

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